Celes materialized atop a drifting asteroid, her feet settling against its rough, uneven surface. The vast expanse of space stretched before her, an endless ocean of stars, streaked with countless floating rocks, stretching infinitely in all directions.
She gazed forward. Thousands of asteroids lay scattered across the cosmos, their jagged shapes illuminated by the distant glow of the system's two suns. One burned a brilliant gold, the other a deep, reddish hue, twin sentinels casting dim yet ominous light over the floating debris field.
Behind her, more asteroids drifted, forming a chaotic, unpredictable landscape. This was the Cereal system's asteroid belt, home to her next targets.
She knew the Heeter's' base was here.
But where?
Celes exhaled, her gaze flickering across the shifting celestial terrain.
This was going to take time.
The belt was vast, stretching across the system, dense enough to conceal even the largest structures within its depths. If the Heeter's had established their hideout here, they wouldn't make it easy to find.
But she had a method.
She closed her eyes, letting her ki reach outward—a pulse, instantaneous, spreading across space in waves.
Nothing.
Not yet.
She'd need to move. Jump between points, widen the search, piece the puzzle together step by step.
Her stance shifted, muscles tensed as she prepared to teleport.
Then—she vanished.
Celes reappeared on another asteroid, its surface smoother, nearly polished by cosmic forces. A violent aurora of charged particles shimmered above her, dancing like spectral flames cast by unseen hands.
She studied it for a moment, appreciating the raw beauty of space before vanishing once more.
Her next jump placed her near a massive asteroid, its core split open, revealing molten veins pulsing with slow, radiant energy. It looked alive, breathing in slow, ancient rhythms. Yet, no signs of her targets.
Another teleport—the third.
This time, she landed upon the remains of a shattered moon, its fractured surface pockmarked with deep scars of long-forgotten collisions. Frozen gas streamed from its surface, curling outward like ephemeral mist, stretching toward the stars.
Still nothing.
Her fourth jump placed her at the edge of an asteroid with an unusual gravity well, its pull stronger than the others, bending the surrounding space in ways that made her uneasy. Ki Sense swept outward, nothing.
The fifth, more drifting stone, more celestial silence.
But then, her sixth jump.
She reappeared atop a smaller asteroid, and something changed.
Ki signatures, several.
Faint but distinct, spread across a structure deep within the asteroid belt.
One stood out, stronger than the rest, not overwhelming, but enough to catch her attention.
Celes' lips curled into a slow smirk.
She had found them.
Celes vanished once more, reappearing on the closest asteroid to the structure, her boots settling against the cold, uneven surface.
In the distance, the Heeter's' base loomed, a colossal fortress embedded atop an asteroid, its sheer size matching the rock itself, a seamless fusion of metal and stone.
Weapon emplacements lined the outer shell, turrets positioned at various angles, each designed to cover every possible approach. The structure radiated a cold, militaristic precision, not built for comfort, but survival.
Encasing it, a shimmering energy shield pulsed faintly, an artificial barrier warding off the vacuum of space, keeping oxygen sealed within for those inside.
Celes narrowed her eyes.
She had two choices.
A single blast could wipe the asteroid from existence, erasing everything, the Heeter's, their forces, their technology. It would be quick, efficient.
But reckless.
She had no idea who else was inside. Slaves, prisoners, valuable intel, it would all be lost in an instant. Destroying the base meant burning every answer she could find.
The alternative? Sneaking in.
It would take longer, quietly eliminating the guards, getting inside without raising the alarm, reaching the Heeter's one by one. It wasn't dangerous for her, just time-consuming.
Both had downsides.
She exhaled, scanning the fortress again, considering her next move.
After a moment of quiet deliberation, she made her decision.
Stealth was the better option.
With a slow, measured breath, she actively suppressed her ki, layering it over her already passive suppression, making her presence near invisible to detection. It was a technique she had mastered, a ghost slipping through the void.
She descended, moving carefully through the asteroid's shadows, keeping her speed controlled, her movements precise.
Instead of approaching from a direct path, she angled herself downward, flying toward the underside of the massive structure. The asteroid itself acted as a natural blind spot, a place where patrols wouldn't expect an approach.
The shield hummed faintly above, the base looming just overhead.
Celes drifted closer, her movements measured, deliberate as she extended her hand toward the shimmering barrier.
The moment her fingers breached the shield, she remained absolutely still listening, watching, waiting.
No sudden energy shifts.
No alarms.
No automated defenses snapping into place.
She pushed her hand in further, letting it pass through entirely, all while scanning her surroundings.
The shield held its form, sealing the atmosphere within, but no detection array seemed to react to her presence.
That was good.
But she wasn't going to assume it was completely unguarded just yet.
Celes pushed forward, her form slipping through the shimmering barrier.
Within seconds, she was inside.
She remained perfectly still, her senses sharp, listening for any shifts, any alarms, any movement, any signs she had been detected.
Nothing.
The fortress remained silent, its operations undisturbed.
She had made it in undetected.
Her choice was now locked in. Option two was in full effect.
Without hesitation, she moved forward, her next objective clear, take out the guards, infiltrate deeper, and find the Heeter's.
Celes scanned the fortress once more, her senses sharpening as she stretched her ki outward, reading the energy signatures within.
156.
That was the exact number of Ki signatures residing inside. Soldiers, workers, maybe even slaves. The Heeter's and their loyalists wouldn't be leaving here alive.
She moved through the outskirts of the base, her presence completely suppressed, slipping through the cold corridors like a phantom.
Then—her first target.
A lone guard, standing watch, unaware.
No one else in sight.
Celes vanished, reappearing behind him in an instant.
Before he could react, her hand snapped forward, delivering a swift chop to the back of his neck.
The guard collapsed immediately, unconscious before he even understood what had happened.
Without hesitation, she grabbed him, hoisting him up with ease, then hurled his body through the shield.
The moment he passed through, the vacuum of space claimed him, pulling him into the abyss.
Celes didn't bother watching him fade into nothingness.
One down.
155 left.
She moved forward.
Celes moved through the corridors like a shadow, silent, swift, and ruthless.
One by one, the guards fell.
Each encounter was over in an instant. A precise strike to the neck, a swift toss beyond the shield, their bodies swallowed by the void. No alarms, no resistance, just a growing emptiness where once stood watchful sentries.
By the time she reached deeper into the base, 65 guards were gone, erased without a sound.
She paused at a junction, scanning the structure ahead.
This was where the real hunt began.
Celes pressed deeper into the fortress, her movements silent and precise, eliminating the guards as she went.
Unlike before, she no longer had the luxury of tossing them into the void, dragging their bodies through the corridors would waste time. Instead, she took a more efficient approach.
Each guard she encountered met the same fate, a swift snap of the neck, their bodies limp before they even knew she was there. She wasted no movement, no unnecessary effort.
With every takedown, she hauled their lifeless forms into storage rooms, supply closets, or abandoned sections of the base, ensuring they wouldn't be discovered too soon.
By the time she reached the inner sections, 84 guards were gone, 65 from the outskirts, 19 more within the fortress itself.
Then, she found it.
A processing plant, large, industrial, humming with machinery.
And inside, slaves.
She counted them swiftly. Forty in total.
That meant only 31 people remained in the base.
She memorized the numbers, ensuring she wouldn't lose track.
The Heeter's were close.
And she was almost done.
Celes pressed deeper into the base, her movements silent, efficient, lethal.
Then, she found it, the archive room.
A place where all data in the fortress was stored.
Two guards stood stationed at the door, weapons holstered, unaware of their impending fate. A third sat inside, focused on a terminal, oblivious to what was happening just outside.
Celes moved.
She appeared instantly in front of the left guard, her fist driving into his throat with crushing force.
He choked violently, hands instinctively grasping at his neck, gasping for air that would never come.
Before the second guard could react, she spun, delivering a brutal roundhouse kick to the back of his neck.
His head slammed into the floor with bone-shattering impact, the force knocking him out cold.
With both guards incapacitated, Celes wasted no time.
She formed a ki blade, its edge shimmering with lethal precision.
Then—a single, swift stab through the heart.
Both bodies jerked once, then went completely still.
Celes let the energy blade flicker out, her gaze shifting toward the door.
One last obstacle remained.
Celes pushed open the door, stepping into the archive room without hesitation.
Her gaze locked onto her target.
Macki.
The Heeter stood frozen, eyes wide as she registered the scene before her, the lifeless bodies of the guards, crumpled on the floor just beyond the doorway.
For a split second, shock paralyzed her.
Then instinct kicked in.
Her hand shot toward her weapon, desperate to react, but she was already too late.
Celes moved faster than thought, faster than sight, an instant, a flicker, a breath.
Her ki blade carved through flesh, slicing clean through Macki's throat before she could even process what was happening.
A sharp gasp.
Her body twitched, stumbling back as her eyes trembled in realization.
Then—silence.
Macki collapsed, her final moment sealed in the quiet hum of the archive room.
Celes stood over her, unmoved, her blade flickering out.
One target down.
She turned her attention to the data storage ahead.
Celes wasted no time.
She activated Raphael, letting her interface with the archive's system. Data streams flickered across the console as she swiftly copied every file, every record, every piece of intel stored within the fortress.
Then, with a final command, everything was erased.
The archive, once filled with countless logs, now held nothing but silence.
With the task complete, Celes exited the room.
Pulling up the map she had extracted from the data, she pinpointed her next destination, the barracks and prison.
With controlled speed, she moved through the corridors, her next phase already unfolding.
Celes kept moving, her pace steady, precise.
As she approached her destinations, she stretched her ki sense outward, scanning for ki signatures within the structure ahead.
15 signatures clustered within the prison.
7 within the barracks.
She noted the numbers carefully. The barracks would likely house remaining loyalist soldiers, resting but still ready to fight. The prison, however, could hold a mix, potential targets, potential survivors.
Either way, she would need to deal with both.
Her gaze sharpened.
First, she had to decide where to strike.
Celes made her choice.
The prison came first, eliminating any potential threats before they could turn into a flank waiting to happen.
With controlled movements, she maneuvered through the fortress, following the map she had extracted from the archives. The corridors grew tighter, the atmosphere shifting, a clear divide between the standard sections of the base and its darker, lesser-kept areas where prisoners were held.
Her ki sense expanded once again, detecting thirteen signatures tightly clustered while two moved along the perimeter, patrolling the area.
Close now.
A surge of focus sharpened her next move, the strike imminent.
Her eyes locked onto the two guards, stationed above watching over the 13 prisoners trapped in the cells below.
She moved.
Reaching the staircase, she deliberately shifted her weight, creating a faint noise, just enough to stir suspicion, just enough to lure her first target.
The guard paused, his stance tightening as he listened.
Then, he turned, stepping forward cautiously, moving toward the disturbance.
That was his mistake.
The moment he came close enough, Celes struck, her hand snapping out, gripping his head with an unrelenting force.
Before he could react, she dragged him into cover, her movements swift, silent, lethal.
Her ki blade materialized instantly, its edge stabbing directly through his heart.
His body twitched once, then went completely limp in her grasp.
One down.
Celes' gaze flickered toward the second guard.
With a smirk, she raised her hand, forming it into the shape of a gun.
A small ki ball materialized at her fingertip, crackling with power.
She didn't hesitate.
A flash, the energy shot forward, cutting through the air in an instant, striking the guard directly in the forehead.
He jerked back violently, his body going limp before he even hit the ground.
The room fell into silence.
The prisoners, trapped behind the cells, had seen everything.
Their eyes widened, fear, confusion, disbelief swirling within them, gripping their expressions, stiffening their movements.
But Celes didn't linger.
She turned, her gaze unwavering, detached, stepping toward the exit without hesitation.
"I'll be back."
Her voice was firm, decisive. No explanations, no reassurances, just a promise.
The prisoners, still slack-jawed, finally snapped out of their stunned silence.
"Wait! Let us out!" one called, his voice cracking with desperation.
Others followed, voices overlapping, pleading, demanding.
Celes ignored them.
She had a mission to finish.
Without hesitation, she slipped out of the prison, her focus now locked onto her next target, the barracks.
The fortress was thinning.
And the Heeter's were running out of time.
(Words: 2320)